Tata Bolt EV Prototype Is Better Than You Think

At the time when the whole car industry is speaking about the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV‘s outstanding electric drive range ever of 383 km per full charge, here is an another ‘Bolt EV‘ to which we can relate ourselves with. Developed by Tata Motors UK’s R&D division, this electric family car prototype with our home-grown ‘TATA’ badging is on trials in Britain, and is exactly the same Bolt hatchback we have in India, but only with the conventional engine swapped for an electric motor run by batteries.

Guys at The Red Ferret tech blog have spotted this innocent little car somewhere in Britain’s countryside. The Bolt EV bags an 80 kW electric motor under its hood and is mated to a single speed gearbox. The e-DRIVE powertrain is run by compactly packed batteries under the rear floor board, which means there is no additional intrusion with the cabin and boot space. The car allegedly boasts a driving range of about 100 kms on a full charge, with 0-100 kmph acceleration in a brisky 10 seconds before hitting a top speed of 135 kmph. Watch the Bolt EV drive video below:

To much of a surprise, the Bolt EV prototype is all same and clean as the regular hatchback inside and gives an impression as if the car is production-ready! Only in place of the conventional gear stick, there is a rotary knob gear selector instead. The car is also a fully-loaded variant with touchscreen infotainment, dual airbags, and ABS, and the reviewer in the video is certainly impressed by the car’s cabin layout and built quality.

Notably, Tata Motors UK have come up with many electric prototypes in the past, including the EV variants of Vista and Indica, Tata Iris EV and the Tata Ace EV. None of them were commercially sold in large numbers, nor the company is offering the Tata Bolt diesel/ petrol hatchback in the UK market.

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Dhiyanesh is equally crazy about driving cars and writing about them. This guy loves everything with a steering wheel, so, at someday if self-driving cars take up all driving, he is sure to go nuts! He likes sedans of 90s era, esp W140 S-Class and R34 Skyline GT. Apart from usual motoring stuffs, he maintains a strong appetite for sociological perspectives on cars, their historical and cultural footprints. He owns a 1999 Fiat Siena passionately, and drives a Ford Fiesta.